Show I HOW SMELTERMEN LIVE Visit to the Homes of Workmen Work-men at Murray WHAT THE MENS WIVES SAY IJ J I Wages Paid to Gerniruiia Employees Insufficient to Provid Necessaries to Say Nothing of Comforts Prices at tho Companys Store Higher than in tho City and Those Who Do Not Patronise It Aro the First 40 to be Discharged Pinching Economy Econo-my Necessary I I A visit among the wivesand families of men employed at lie Cermnnla smelter even those whose husbands 1 and fathers were ot connected with Hie I recent trouble wilh the company reveals a state of alfnirs which to ay the least wrnild detract greatly from the weight o the argument made that men and their families can live on the wages they receive from the smelter company J would be hard to imagine more abject ab-ject looking places than some of those Isled yesterday by a lepresentative of The Tribune One could t l just bY looking at the rickety old shacks In which lumbers of these families reside that poverty yes almost squalor could be found within and In numerous cases the prediction was correct The floors were bare the walls were bare and no doubt the cupboards in many Httlo homes In Murray yesterday were almost In the same condition Some of the families of employees It Is true have a few of the comforts ot life but these arc few and far between Most of them live In small houses of from two to four rooms and for these they arc obliged to pay from 4 to S per month TALKS WITH THE WIVES The wives of men earning wages all along the scale were interviewed and the consensus of opinion was that the men were not receiving1 living wages but simply sufficient to maintain a handtomouth existence Some of the women whose husbands are mOle fa Sored as regards wages than others that Is whose dally wages arc on a higher scale were strongest In their denunciation of what they termed the shamefully low wages received by the great majority of the employees at the smelter One little woman whose husband receives re-ceives 1iO a day and who has no one to support but himself and wife said it was a hard task for them to make both ends meet She said that almost I every dollar earned by her husband I went Into the company store to pay for their provisions The argument was advanced that met who live on nutritious nutri-tious food are not nearly so likely to become leaded as though this were not done and hence Jiving for the smeltcrmen costs more than for men engaged in occupations having less ell effects upon thclr systems But next door to this woman dwelt I family of sixthe father mother and four children and the wages of this man is about 1GG per day Here a truly pitiful conditions of affairs exists ex-ists The mother Is very delicate and yet she toils on day after day cashing I cash-ing cooking scrubbing and sewing never tasting of the dainty luxuries which with a brief rest from her wearisome toll might nurse her back to healthf But on the meager wages of her husband It Is barely possible for this poor woman with all her scrimping scrimp-ing and saving to eke out an existence COMPANY STORES HIGH PRICES The chief complaint from all who were interviewed was concerning the cost of living and the cost of provisions provi-sions at the company store Every one admitted that there was no written law compelling employees to trade at the company mercantile institution but all said there was an unwritten one to that effect that Is the man who did little or no trading at the company store would be the first to be laid off from work at the smelter But their complaint was not based upon prejudice preju-dice against trading at that institution but rather as was said by every woman wo-man interviewed that the prices charged at that store are much higher than at any store In Murray Furthermore Further-more the prices of all kinds of provl 3lons it was said are from 10 to 25 per cent higher in Murray than In this city As one of the poor wives expressed ex-pressed It We can carry homo under our arm what we can get at the company com-pany store for 10 while It takes two boxes to pack It home from the city NO MONEY FOR FURNITURE Still another mother of two children whose husband earns the large sum of 1C6 a day said I tel you its mighty hard for us to get along You can see T have no furniture In my house Everything goes for Bdmothlng to cat and we are always In ebt I have been married almost live years and never yet have have T boon able to hire a dress made for myself And I there was no evidence o shlfllcasncsn or wastefulness around the little 0 ltle place which this family rails home But there was one woman among all I the number expressing their opinions who hadnt much complaint to make She was an honest hardworking old I English woman and Bn13h wOlan said they managed man-aged to get along pretty well on their small income The great trouble with moat of these men is she said they pay most of their money for drink and I I you know that drink costs more thai bread One woman not far from here washes early and late to provide for her large family while her husband 1 epends nearly all his wages for whisky wagCH whlsly I tell you If sonic of these men would l let whisky alone their families would 1 famile 1I not be In want 1 they often are now I But the fact that some men peld their money for drink IB no justifica Lon for paying men less than living wages linh agcsEXA EXAMPLE OF INDUSTRY The Tribunes representative was representatve next directed to the home of one who was paid to have been engaged In the recent strike The house was any I thing hut pretentious be the door yard was cleaner than some of the kitchen floors that were seen There 1 I I were but two rooms to this home and It sheltered father mother and two children Everything In the rooms was as clean and bright as soap and water could make It und its 1 Is very cleanliness made the little place at tractive The good wife was unable to speak English UK her better half 11 bller cx plained but Ilalncd hllthe opinions expressed by this man who earned Jiio a day < al led with those expressed by the soy oral wives In the neighborhood wlcs II tc lelghb0hoot find he sighed as he wondered how some of his brothers crc called upon to culed UPOI sup port families of six and seven for IH said We have n pretty tough time to get along At least that Is I what ho hs I supposed to have said but he came hI very nearly not being able to speak eamt I English any better I than his wife whom he said could noi talk it at all j WORK IS HAZARDOUS A common expression used by all the I women was that the work was so dan gerous that Is there was somuch dangerof the men being leaded at lace any i Jt I < I time More than one wife stated that her husband had 1 been affected from it onio and that 1 i seioiid attack I unfits the men for any further work In smelters smel-ters One wife whoso husband had been thus afflicted ant who lives In terror of another attack said if he could Just hold out another year i they I would go and take up land and engage i I In fanning when they could at least i have enough to eat I And so it ran down through the list I I of those who were glad to express their opinions of what they thought was InJustice I In-Justice of the company toward their I employees particularly in the face of I I the fact that the price of every commodity com-modity which they have to purchase has greatly suit ancch since the reduction reduc-tion In wages was made In IbW But even with the Increase which the men hope to obtain the wives and children would not benefit much thereby for 35 cents J day will not go far toward clothing a family of from four to eight Every little however will help and the wives I and children who now know little of anything else save penury I pen-ury may occasionally be able to obtain I ob-tain something which will make life I seem mOle worth the living |